“The Nashville Sound”

It’s been almost 10 years since we last heard from Joel RL Phelps & the Downer Trio, and since their new album Gala has been described as a “post-addiction and post-recovery record”, it's safe to assume that Phelps has been through some stuff in the interim. But the Downer Trio is now five albums deep, so the chemistry between Vancouver resident and former Silkworm guitarist/vocalist Phelps, drummer William Herzog and guitarist/bassist Robert Mercer is very much intact.

“I want a way to break that Nashville sound,” Phelps sings on Gala’s leadoff track, and though he can’t break that mold for everyone, there’s no danger of the Downer Trio lazily aping an aesthetic. Phelps’s fuzzy guitar is more gristly than meaty on this loud/quiet/loud track, and his voice is as oddly endearing as ever, resembling Stephen Malkmus or Jeff Mangum in the way he goes from a seemingly disengaged baritone to a cracked, spine-tingling yelp. “Put some shoulder in it, boys,” he implores, and the band complies.